Lucknow, January 08: VIRENDRA Kumar, the owner of Bharat Book Centre at Ashok Marg in the state capital, says he would have had to wind up his book publishing and selling business three years back had he not gone for diversification and introduced books based on professional courses and those on yoga, cooking and personality improvement.

He had been publishing fiction and suspense novels besides some textbooks for last many years, but with the change in reading habits of the people, he says, he had to repackage his business. Thanks to it, his business is now growing at nearly 20 per cent every year.

‘‘Nobody wants to read fiction these days, mainly because days when people used to read books in bed before retiring for the night are over. Now they have other options like television and internet. Today everybody wants a book either to help him/her in their professional careers or in personality development,’’ says Kumar.

Nearly a dozen publishing houses with a national name like Macmillan, Oxford University Press, New Age International and UBS run operations in Lucknow while there are nearly 100 small-time publishers. Almost all have had to repackage with changing reading habits.

‘‘The sales of books pertaining to professional courses like MBA, MCA, biotechnology etc have almost doubled in the last five years mainly because this sector has been opened in UP for private players. Nearly 50 private institutes teaching engineering, MBA, dentistry and pharmacy alone have come up in Lucknow in five years, and there is a resultant growth in the quantum of books on these subjects. We have to change with the changing trends,’’ says Atul Srivastava of Allied Publishers.

Lucknowiites also seem to have a preference for books on their city. Yogesh Parveen, a local writer, has written over 20 books pertaining to Lucknow’s history and culture, three last year alone proving successful.

Still, Uttar Pradesh lags behind even Bihar when it comes to reading habit. Which is why that while the National Book Trust holds book fairs in Laloo land every year, in Uttar Pradesh it held one three years back.